Tuesday, September 2, 2008

[This post was originally published on my Asia Sentinel blog on August 30, 2008.]

As the Olympics drew to a cathartic end, I finished reading
Philip Pan’s heart wrenching book “Out of Mao’s Shadow”. Watching the Games and
related news on TV and the Internet while reading the book at the same time invoked
in me paradoxical sentiments.

Though I felt baffled about the dishonesty surrounding certain
gymnasts’ age and the choice of vanity over real talent behind the lip synching
incident, on the whole I was pretty impressed by the entire event, especially
the opening ceremony. I was also amazed by the organizational prowess of the
“rising nation” which pulled out all the stops to make this sports event an
awe-inspiring spectacle. And I was delighted and proud that she did it! Though
I may not share the wild ecstasy of most mainlanders (for one thing, I have
never been a sports fan), I nevertheless feel that China deserves a standing ovation
from the world audience for her striving for perfection in putting together
such an epic international event.

Yet, after reading Pan’s book, that delightful and proud
feeling was dimmed by sadness and worries about this same nation.

Expression of feelings aside, the purpose of this post is to
review the book, which, if nothing else, has shone some light (for my ignorant
self anyway) on the otherwise inscrutable and nebulous recent history as well
as on some crucial contemporary issues of mainland China.

There are perhaps two resounding messages that the author tries
to convey: firstly that “those counting on the capitalists to lead the charge
for democratization in China are likely to be disappointed”, and secondly, that
the society’s struggle for social justice and civic liberties is often futile,
although passionate individuals with a conscience and a sense of justice are ceaselessly
trying against all odds to attain those.

In an early chapter of the book, the author lets us have a
glimpse into China’s
recent past, through the camera lenses of photographer Hu Jie who was obsessed
with digging up the life story of young poet Lin Zhao. In making and
distributing underground the documentary about Lin, Hu had to sacrifice a
steady well-paying job at Xinhua News Agency and to risk being arrested any
day. But he was determined to get to the bottom of it because he believed that
“it wasn’t normal or healthy for a society to go through a cataclysm like the
Anti-Rightist Campaign and never discuss it and he wondered if the absence of
historical knowledge hindered social progress”.

In the 1950s, Lin Zhao had once been a Communist Party
member while studying at the Peking University but she later paid with her life
for opposing the party out of utter disillusionment with it. As the author
takes us through the young lives and actions of Lin and her classmates via Hu’s
investigative interviews, scene after scene of the perfidious Hundred Flowers
Movement and the cruel Anti-Rightist Campaign unfolds before us. When Lin’s
prison writings about the wickedness and absurdities of the Campaign and her
sufferings are revealed to us, we can almost smell the blood that Lin used to
write her memoir with.

Then we are brought to some tragic happenings during the
nefarious Cultural Revolution through the recollection of a former red guard,
Xi Qinsheng of Chongqing, whose mother was killed nonsensically during an
in-party strife. In an interview with the author, Xi is quoted as saying: “The
Cultural Revolution brought out the worst in people, and the worst in the
political system.” “Xi said he believed one-party rule was ultimately to blame
for the crimes of the Cultural Revolution, but that individuals – like the man
who killed his mother, and like himself – must also accept responsibility. ‘How
could a ruthless dictatorship thrive in this country? Why did the nation
support it?’ he asked.”

Apart from the historical snapshots, the book tells the
stories of other present-day dissidents as well as the story of a wealthy real
estate developer who exemplifies the venal union of capitalism and
authoritarianism.

Jiang Yanyong, a semi-retired surgeon, blew the whistle on
the spread of SARS in Beijing
and later tried, to no avail, to persuade the Communist Party to admit its Tiananmen Square wrongdoings. Threatened by house arrest
and a prospect of never being able to visit his daughter in the United States,
Jiang was finally forced to abandon his cause.

The blind legal expert, Chen Guangshen, who tried to help
women forced to have abortions under the one-child policy to fight the
bureaucracy and who escaped house arrest to take the case all the way to Beijing from the remote
village in Shandong
province where he lived, was finally kidnapped by public security officers and
was subsequently imprisoned.

There are a bunch of “weiquan” (維權) lawyers who try their
best to defend Chen’s case and another notorious libel case incriminating Chen
Guidi and Wu Chuntao, for writing and publishing the book “An Investigation of
China’s Peasantry” in 2003 (the English edition is called “Will the Boat Sink
the Water?”), brought on by a corrupt party official. The book is banned in China as it
exposes corrupt deeds of local party and government officials, supported by
documents and witnesses, in particular the imposition of punitive taxes on
peasants. The case was tried in court but the judge could not (or would not)
come up with a verdict.

Then there is the story of Cheng Yizhong, the idealistic journalist
who took Guangzhou’s
outspoken newspaper Southern Metropolis Daily to unprecedented levels of
popularity and fame. He first caught the nation’s and the leaders’ attention by
an expose of the corrupt “shourong” (retention and repatriation) system run by
local police, whereby the latter had the right to detain at will roaming
migrants and force them into involuntary labor and captivity until they could
pay their way out. Although Cheng managed to force leaders to order a ban on
the vile system, he also upset many party officials in the process, unwittingly
setting the stage for his subsequent downfall. His unreserved reporting on SARS
did not help either. In 2004 he was imprisoned for five months for an alleged
corruption charge, which was an obvious set-up to frame him.

“But prison had changed him, and now he considered the
party’s rule irredeemably corrupt. That judgment, however, left him with few
options as a citizen and a journalist, and he was restless. ‘The worst thing
that happened to me,’ he said, ‘was that I lost all hope in the system.’”

If the stories of the dissidents seem outright depressing,
that of Chen Lihua is remarkably buoyant - from her standpoint, that is. Chen
was named China’s
sixth richest person in Forbes’ 2001 list, with assets of US$550 million.

This passage may best sum up Chen’s story: “China’s
emerging business elite is a diverse and disparate bunch, and for every
entrepreneur who would embrace political reform, there are others who support
and depend on the authoritarian system, who believe in one-party rule and owe
their success to it. Chen Lihua fits in this latter category, and her story is
a reminder that those with the most wealth – and thus the most resources to
devote either to maintaining the status quo or promoting change – are also the
most likely to be in bed with the party.”

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Here is the link to the Archive Page of the "Alice Poon" Blog at Asia Sentinel (it's the fastest way to access my blogposts as this page is automatically updated and the posts are in date order with the latest at the top):-

Friday, January 4, 2008

May I wish you all a very happy new year! I just wanted to remind readers that my blog is now located at Asia Sentinel's website under the Interactive Section (http://www.asiasentinel.com/).The move took effect as of late October last year.

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About Me

Always fascinated with iconic but unsung females in Chinese history and legends, I cherish a dream of bringing them to the page. Chinese history and poetry, Jin Yong novels, English, French and Russian classics have colored my life and imagination.